- Consider one character who has grown or changed over Part 3. Specifically, how have they changed, and how does it affect our understanding of the book as a whole?
- What was Beloved and what happened to her? Consider both when she disappears and also the final chapter of the book ("disremembered and unaccounted for"). Who does she represent?
- Look at Sethe and Paul D together. Especially focusing on this last part of the book (pg. 310-322) how and why are they compatible? How do they see each other, and how does this relate to our understanding of the book as a whole?
martes, 31 de marzo de 2009
Part 3: Beloved
After finishing the whole book, reflect on one of the following questions and how it relates to the overall meaning of the book. As usual, respond in 1-2 paragraphs, and use at least 2 quotes to support your answer.
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Paul + Sethe:
Both Paul D's and Sethe's past are filled with bitter and hideous memories. Only they two can understand and comfort each other. That much is obvious, but also, their own shit that they had to go through, and how they dealt with it is what let's them stay together. The first thing is that we have Paul's "superpower", which allows him to hear, and sympathize, a woman's troubles. He is a person that can understand and help share the pain of anything, someone who can be heavily relied, and that is just what Sethe needs, to be able to rely completely on someone. Like when Paul D tells her "'You your best thing, Sethe. You are.' His holding fingers are holding hers. 'Me? Me?'", Sethe doesn't even believe that she can do it (live) by herself, she doesn't believe that she deserves it, and that's why she needs him.
Also, Paul himself needs her. Though not as bad as she does, he needs to play out the role of guiding light, of being the one that never leaves. He himself recognizes that he feels safe and comfortable in 124, "With an effort that makes him sweat he forces a picture of himself lying there, and when he sees it, it lifts his spirit." This quote, and also the part right before the first quote I put perfectly explain the feelings that justify the fact that they need and want each other. They feel that they will be betrayed or hurt for thinking of the other, but once they do, they feel infinitely happier than they did, and this is proof enough that after all, Sethe did have a place to "go back to" and live happily.
Response to first question:
Denver is the one character whose attitude shifted completely at the end of the novel. She realized the way her relationships with Beloved and Sethe had changed, so she decided to get matters in her own ways, as this quote explains: "Denver knew it was on her. She would have to leave the yeard; step off the edge of the world, leave the two behind and go ask somebody for help." (pg 286). Denver basically grew up a the end of the novel. She stopped being concerned with gathering everyone's attention and she became more focused on how to help the people she loved.
Denver's change in attitude shifted the novel's overall mood concerning her character. Instead of viewing Denver as part of the conflict, as done in the first two parts, readers now see her as one of the characters who will help Sethe achieve peace of mind. Her change is reflected in her reactions towards her mother and the rest of the characters, as this quote expresses: "Her {Denver} smile, no longer the sneer {Paul D} remembered..." (pg 313). The fact Denver matured and realized what her mother truly needed changed the way the characters and the readers view her.
Upon first acquaintance of Sethe's character, she is introduced as the strong and courageous woman bearing the burden of her dark past. After her re encounter with her long lost friend, Paul D, Sethe begins to unravel at the edges. Although Sethe revisits some hard memories and experiences some new ones in part two, her personality is still strong as a whole. But as the reader can see in part three, beloved's never ending desire for more, envelops Sethe's strength; stripping her of life. "The bigger Beloved got, the smaller Sethe became; the brighter Beloved's eyes, the more those eyes that used never to look away became slits of sleeplessness." Sethe's once proud and fighting spirit has withered into that of a beaten down child. Sethe's physical state significantly altered as well; "There wasn't a piece of clothing in the house that didn't sag on [Sethe]." Handing over anything Beloved wanted and by ignoring her own needs, Sethe began to fade away.
As her mental sanity begins to shift alongside her physical state, the perspective in which we view the book changes. Our view of Sethe, sets up the tone for the entire novel. The hope placed in Sethe's future is determined by her strong willed character that we see in the first two parts. But once Sethes strength and determination fail her, the novel is perceived as gloomy as opposed to the hopeful tone previously set. Although our refuge in Sethe is replaced in the second to last chapter when Paul D reintroduces hope into her life; turning the novels tone once again towards the bright side.
Beloved
At the beginning, i actually thought that Beloved was not a ghost. I thought she really was a normal girl, but as she vanishes in the book in part 3, I concluded that she was kind of the ghost of the girl Sethe killed and that she actually did not exist. First of all, the way she disappears seems really weird, she just leaves right after all the people are gathered in Sethe’s house and no one seems to see her, some claimed to see a pregnant women that was around naked, giving us the idea that maybe this person was Beloved but not assuring us anything.
Another reason why I personally think that she did not exist was because she actually did not have an identity, we came to know her as Beloved but she did not actually have a name. “Everybody knew what she was called, but nobody anywhere knew her name.” Toni Morrison just made us refer to that “being” when she presents in Sethe’s house as a Beloved due to all the characteristics that seem to remind us about Sethe’s daughter. We can also see in the last couple of pages in the book, she is not remembered. “she cannot be lost because no one is looking for her…They forgot her like a bad dream.” Here, we can see that if she had been like a real human, people would never forget her as easy, and even worst, her “own family” because she did live with Sethe, Denver and Paul for some time seem to forget her not as easy as it was for the other people but they did forget her pretty fast, this is proven in the book where it says, “It took longer for those that had spoken to her, lived with her, fallen in love with her to forget…”
Delving into what Alberto said, it is true, Sethe and Paul D have some sort of bond that allows them to console each other and, in essence, complete themselves. Throughout the course of the whole book we have been introduced to a sundry selection of details about Sethe's life as well as to what Paul D experienced as a runaway who could not help but get caught. Just like Alberto said, they both have this rocky past that they even try to forget. It is funny how Paul D told Sethe that her love was too thick and in the end it is that thick love that ruins her. By giving her a connection to her past, even though she had a hard time coping with the "rememory", Paul D has helped Sethe finally set everything down and move on, just like the words of wisdom Baby Suggs gave her before she passed away. I agree that Sethe needs Paul D to be her "crutch" at ;least until she can get out of this funk she is in but what i disagree on is what Alberto wrote Paul D finds in Sethe. "he did not have to feel the shame of being collared like a beast. Only this woman Sethe could have left him his manhood like that." (pg. 322). In Sethe Paul D was finally able to find the solace he was seeking. He evens questions the reason behind his departure in the first place. Another fine example as to how Sethe completes Paul D is how he mentions how "he remembers Sixo trying to describe what he felt about the Thirty-Mile Woman. 'She is a friend of my mind. She gather me, man. The pieces I am, she gather them and give them back to me all in the right order.'" (pg. 321) From the beginning of the novel where Paul D was adamant about staying for only a few months and remaining indifferent towards anything, not bothering to love anything bigger than a tree he has evolved a great deal finally realizing that he can stop running away, it is safe to love once more.
P.S. Sorry about kind of mixing prompts one and three. They fit so well together that i just fused them to make prompt 1.3.
At the beginning we are introduced to Denver as a selfish girl who is jealous of Beloved since she wanted her mother, Sethe, and all her love, attention and affection all to herself. At the same time, Denvers character is revealed by her attitude of jealousy towards Paul D.
Later in the book a drastic change in such character is obviously seen through her actions. She comes to mature and becomes the woman of the house; such maturity is proven by her search for a job that would allow her to support her family in such times of advertisty.
“Denver decided to do the necessary. Decided to stop relying on kindness to leave something on the stump. She would hire herself out somewhere …she kept them alive”
“Somebody had to be saved, but unless Denver got work, there would be no one to save, no one to come home, and no Denver either.. it was a new thought, having a slf to look out for and preserve”
“You grown” Paul D said
“Yes, sir” Denver answered
Paul D has changed a lot throughout the story he was a lonely man used to wander around and not loved a specific person but as he knows Sethe he fell for her and at the end he stops that lonely life he had. Also through events in the story his feelings for Sethe changes since at first when Beloved was not present in their lives Paul D was completely in love with Sethe's idea but after having relations with her he managed to get the wrong idea and felt he was not that in love with Sethe anymore. He felt his heart could not be open to one girl in particular but as he spent more time with her Paul D's feelings increased and actually realize that he was falling, opening his heart and started to appreciate the way she is. "I'll be here in the night. I'll take care of you." "Me and You we got more yesterday than anybody." "You your best thing."
I believe that Beloved appears for the characters in the novel to be able to leave the past behind and have a pleasant future. Each character needed something big for them to keep on with their lifes. Beloved could of been a ghost or a product of their imagination, i believe she was a ghost because everyone could see her, Paid saw her, and if it were to be part of their imagination, he wouldnt be able to see her.
Through beloved the characters changed: Denver became an independent woman who overcame her solitute, Sethe was able to forgive herself and forget what she did, and Paul D was able to have an stable raationship with Sethe.
"She doesn't move to open the door because there is no world out there. She decides to stay in the cold house and let the dark swallow her like the minnows of light above. She won't put up with another leaving, another trick". Denver was lonely she didnt want to be in the outside world and when Beloved came it was kind of an inspiration for her to have self worth.
"I see the dark face that is going to smile at me it is my dark face that is going to smile at me the iron circle is around our neck she does not have sharp earrings in her ears or a round basket she goes in the water with my face." although i dont understand this chapter at all i think this quote may have an important meaning, maybe beloved didnt want to harm anyone, maybe she just wanted to see her mother smile again, she saw the unhappiness of her mother and was looking for a solution and thats maybe why she came back. I know Beloved made mistakes while staying in 124 but being a ghost doesnt mean doing everything the right way and maybe she made paul d sleep with her to show him how important Sethe was in his life because as always paul d was getting tired of 124.
P.S: i didnt do it yesterday because I was all day working getting the papers for the embassy with my dad and today i went to the embassy so i didnt go to school
Beloved was all the black american suffering. She was the living memory of slavery as a hole and not only the rememberance of Sethe's daughter. Yes she starts as the ghost of Sethe's dead child but as the parasitic relationship goes along we see that the roles shift making beloved the mother figure while leaving a childish sethe that is withdraw of any new memory, only dwelling in the past. " The girl [Beloved] i saw was narrow. This one [Beloved] was big. She say they was holding hands and Sethe looked like a little girl beside it." She how at the end of the quote Stamp aid reffers to beloved no more as "she" but as "it", as if she had transformed into something instead of someone.Beloved was a memory as i already stated, and like a bad memory she was forgotten, forgotten so that the people that lived her could move on. Thats why in the last chapter they say "this was not a story to pass on" and that is because she needed (or needs) to be forrgotten and moved on. There i no use in dwelling in the past, paul d and sethe just need to keep on looking foward.
Miss sorry for missing rehersal, i am dying.
towards the end of the book we all know that beloved disappears and dont really know where she is headed or where she left to. i thinks that she was some kind of ghost or a remembrance of a painful and troublesome past. this past affected mostly Paul D and Sethe, beloved was like a reminder of slavery and of a crime that was committed early in the story. "take them out and they disappear again as though nobody ever walked there" this represents the forgetting of beloved. that she is still there and that she has left a mark that sometimes comes but mostly it is fading away. the people in the book had no other option but to forget her even if it was a long and painful thing to do. the not so fairy tale ending has a clear purpose in my opinion, it is to resemble reality, the author is creating awareness of the problems of those times, she is trying to make people understand about slavery and its consequences. slavery left people with some kind of beloved inside that they cant forget about easily. beloved is a key element in the book because if gives us an insight to the sufferings of slavery and the lifestyle of the people back in the day. "it took longer for those who had spoken to her, lived with her, fallen in love with her, to forget, until they realized they couldn't remember or repeat a single thing she said", some people might remember bad experiences like dreams and they forget about them, but we see that the people that lived with her weren't able to detach from her, they really felt something for her. the leaving of beloved could mean many things; a new beginning for sethe and paul d, the end of slavery, or simply a new era in history. "he wants to put his story next to hers" this is paul d that wants to begin a new life, one in which happiness could be a reality and peace assured everyday. beloved returned to the past, where she had always belonged (memories)
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